Luxoft Financial Services acquires Unafortis for new global Avaloq practice
Avaloq specialist Unafortis now part of Luxoft
Luxoft Financial Services is moving into the Avaloq implementation and consulting business with the acquisition of Unafortis, a Swiss wealth management consultancy firm.
The business will be operated by Excelian, a subsidiary of Luxoft (acquired in early 2015).
Luxoft emphasises it “intends to offer Avaloq-based services beyond the predominantly Swiss-client base of Unafortis” and will be working with Avaloq on this. The target market comprises private banks, wealth management firms and universal banks worldwide.
The company says it plans to create a 150 to 200-engineer global practice, “taking advantage of synergies in the shared markets of Excelian and the recently acquired derivIT in the UK, APAC, Germany and North America, as well as the near and offshore – regionally adaptable – core capabilities of Luxoft”.
DerivIT, a Singapore-based IT services and consulting provider that specialises in credit, risk management and capital markets, was taken over by Luxoft in spring this year.
Dmitry Loschinin, president and CEO of Luxoft, describes the Unafortis deal as “a strategically important acquisition”. He says it will add a “premium services layer” to the company’s core application development and maintenance offering.
Unafortis has 25 customers – wealth managers and private banks – primarily in Switzerland. “Unafortis’ client base complements our own, creating mid-term cross-selling opportunities that can be scaled significantly through our delivery network,” Loschinin says.
